A recent Gallup survey conducted worldwide found that there was a direct correlation between a faith and giving. People that identified themselves as being “highly religious” (I personally don’t like that term) are much more likely to have an active faith in each of three behaviors that Gallup surveyed: giving, volunteering and personal involvement.For example, in the Americas, people who report that religion is important to their daily lives and who also report having attended a religious service in the past week are 39% more likely to recently have donated money to a charity, 61% more likely to have volunteered their time to an organization in the past month and 14% more likely to have helped a stranger or someone that they didn’t know in the past month.
It’s refreshing to know that “faith”, however defined, is active and not passive. For those that are Christians, the message of the cross is one of unconditional love and compassion. While Christ serves as our ultimate example of unconditional love and compassion, we are clearly told “go and do likewise” The example of the sheep and the goats that Jesus told (Matthew 25) of the end times and eternal judgment is clear about how our faith needs to be active: For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
Faith, compassion, generosity, self-less love are all the visible reminders of a faith-filled life.
